The ACT College and Career Readiness System MEASURING STUDENT PROGRESS TOWARD READINESS IMPROVING COURSE RIGOR SUPPORTING SOLUTIONS PLANNING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.

The ACT College and Career Readiness System

MEASURING STUDENT PROGRESS TOWARD READINESS IMPROVING COURSE RIGOR

SUPPORTING SOLUTIONS

PLANNING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

EXPLORE

8th and 9th grade curriculum-based educational and career planning

program

PLAN

10th grade curriculum-based educational and career planning

program

The ACT

11th and 12 grade curriculum-based assessment for

learning outcomes

ENGAGE

Middle and high school assessment that measures all

factors of academic success

QualityCore

Research-driven solutions for

strengthening curriculum

CoreWork Diagnostics

Online service to diagnose and improve content and practice areas

Core Practice Audit

Framework for evaluating current practices

ACT National Curriculum Survey®

• Determines what skills and knowledge postsecondary institutions expect

• Measures college-ready skills

• Surveys completed nationally

• Consultation with content area experts

• Minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in credit-bearing college courses

• Empirically derived based on actual performance of college students

• Established using data from 98 institutions and over 90,000 students

©2010 by ACT, Inc.

ACT College Readiness Benchmarks

http://www.act.org/education/benchmarks.html

• Empirically Derived• 50% chance of achieving a B or higher or about a

75% chance of achieving a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college course

Test College Course PLAN ACT8th Grade 9th Grade

English English Composition 13 14 15 18

Math Algebra 17 18 19 22

Reading Social Sciences 15 16 17 21

Science Biology 20 20 21 24

EXPLORE

ACT College Readiness Benchmarks

Public Four- Year Retention and College GPAs by ACT Benchmarks

ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, Retention and First Year College GPA: What’s the Connection ©2005 by ACT, Inc.

Benchmarks Met

The EXPLORE Student Score Report

The ACT Profile Report

The ACT Profile Report

• Direct link between what students have learned and what they are ready to learn next.

• Suggested learning experiences provide links between the Standards in one score range and those in the next (higher) score range.

• Ideas for progressing to the next score range demonstrate ways that information learned from standardized test results can be used to inform classroom instruction.

ACT’s College Readiness Standards™

Example: Mathematics College Readiness Standards

www.act.org/standard

ACT’s College Readiness Standards™

College Readiness Standards™

Suggestions to progress to a higher level

of achievement

The ACT Profile Report

Item Response Student Report

Item Response Summary Report

Curriculum Review Worksheets

www.act.org/standard/instruct

© 2011 by ACT, Inc.

The linking analysis affirms that the performance standards of college and career readiness—and therefore the new Common Core State Standards—are competitive with the highest performing nations in the world.

US College and Career Readiness Benchmark

United States

Mind the Gaps

College Readiness Benchmarks and

Achievement Gaps

© 2010 by ACT, Inc.

All

College ready

in 4 subjects

Reductions in Family Income Gaps in College Enrollment Rates Associated with Meeting All Four

ACT College Readiness Benchmarks

Enrolled in College First Year

Gap reduction:

16 percentage

points

Highest family income group

Lowest family income group

82

58

85

77

24

8

All

College ready

in 4 subjects

Reductions in Racial/Ethnic Gaps in College Retention Rates Associated with Meeting All Four ACT College

Readiness Benchmarks

Re-enrolled in College Second Year

Gap reduction:

5 percentage

points

White

Underrepresented minorities

74

68

84

83

6

1

All

College ready

in 4 subjects

Reductions in Racial/Ethnic Gaps in 4-Year College Degree Completion Rates Associated with Meeting All Four ACT

College Readiness Benchmarks

College Completion Within 5 Years

Gap reduction:

5 percentage

points

White

Underrepresented minorities

39

26 13

52

44 8

Joe CruseDirector, Program SolutionsACT Mountain/Plains [email protected]

Contact Information